The Zoo doesnt have dragons...sorry Eddy!

We took our kids to the zoo the other day. I expected it to be warm so my kids in skimpy summer clothes, Danny was the only one with a sweater and we were all jealous. It was FREEZING! Luckily Eddy was so entertained by the animals that he wasnt worried about the goosebumps all over his legs.
The baby elephant was the cutest thing ever. We saw her nursing with her mommy.
Eddy wanted to ride the merry-go-round over and over and he LOVED the giraffes!

Sadly, there were no dragons at the zoo. Eddy really wanted to see a dragon. He kept asking over and over to see one, thanks to the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon."

He loved the train as did Olive. (thanks for the sweater Danny) I think the zoo is the perfect place for a 2 year old. It's so cool for them to see all the animals they read about in books for the first time. I personally have never liked the zoo. Working with the school district for so many years with regular field trips and summer camps to the zoo made me a zoo hater. But going with my own kids was a blast, I've been converted to enjoy watching the caged animals, sorry PETA.

Life Dreams

Being a mom is so different from anything i have ever done in my life. I am the youngest of 4 children and was rarely around babies. I became an aunt at 7 and enjoyed babysitting occasionally but that was about it. I was a pretty spoiled kid and had selfish tendencies, spending my time doing what I wanted and playing with my friends.

Life is so interesting the way it comes at you. I never had any definet plans of how I wanted my life to turn out. I just knew that I wanted to have fun and I had lots of dreams like...

1. Joining the Air Force (brought on by watching Top Gun)

2. Moving to Hawaii

3. Serving a mission to Jackson Hole

4. Becoming a Geologist, or Oceanologist

5. Living by the Ocean

6. Working summers at Lake Powell

The list goes on, but the point is I really wanted to do all of these things. These were things I dreamt about growing up. I really never dreamt of getting married, I never thought twice or even once about raising a family. But there were very random things that I ALWAYS knew.

I always knew that I would only have white bath towells and white sheets and that I wanted to sleep in a room with light walls and lots of windows. I always knew that my favorite way to spend my free time was to be outside in the hot sun. I knew that I wanted to name my kids Sadie and Paige(but never thought about actually raising them).

Now the point of this post is that those dreams I had, they didn't happen, the things I loved, I still love (save the names), the things that I thought little about like a husband and kids well those are the center of my life now and I LOVE IT! But the interesting thing is, my dreams didn't go away with this wonderful new life. They are still there lurking in the back of my mind. And that's a good thing, but my desire now is to have my dreams be dreams about my family. Easier said than done. I'm a mom and I love being a mom, but I feel like I am ALWAYS trying to get my mom stuff done and out of the way so I can work on ME stuff. This is also not a bad thing, but I want to have the desire to be like a professional mom. I want to have my free time spent thinking of ways I can party with my family, or play with my kids, or what have you. But it's not as easy as it sounds. You would think that since I have the desire I would just DO IT and LOVE IT.

But I'm so distracted.

Instead of doing those great motherly things I sit outside in the sun, dreaming of Hawaii and water skiing and where I can buy 700 thread count white sheets for a good deal. So now my goal for this week is to plan 3 fun things to do with my family. They don't have to cost money they just have to be FUN! I think being a mom can be just as much fun as getting your ear to the water, right? So tell me some ideas of something fun to do besides, going to the park, on a walk, or to the library (I already do those, and the library is NOT fun) I'm ready to be a mom and to be good at it. I'm trying to get rid of my selfish tendencies or at least bridle them for the time being.

My 3 ideas:

1. Go fishing

2. Buy and play Hungry Hippos

3. Fix bike trailer and take kids on a bike ride.

Now tell me your ideas!

adendum

To the below post. Digital is not acting. Digital is literally digital. Dannys grandpa was a computer scientist for N.A.S.A. or as he liked to say, he was into digital. Sorry I wasnt very clear. But Danny is actually certifying in A+ and some other "digital" programs to be a computer techy guy. Though, your supportive comments are making me want to move to Cali, we will be here.

Digital

At the end of mine and Danny's honeymoon we stayed a night at his grandparents house so they could drive us to the airport in the morning.

That evening they took us out to dinner to congratulate us as newlyweds. At Dinner Danny's grandma talked to us about Danny's career. She was a drama teacher in Pales Verde's and in touch with many agents. She already had one picked out for Danny, she really thought he would be the next Brad Pitt. She talked to us through dinner and worked to convince us to move to California and try the acting gig. Though she was persistent we explained to her that we wanted to stay in Utah and figure things out for a while before deciding on a career. Throughout dinner Danny's grandpa chimed in to agree with his wife and coxing us into become Hollywood residents but he could tell we weren't too interested.

At the time Danny's grandpa was struggling with dementia and Alzheimer's. Throughout dinner I would look up to see him staring at me intently with one eye closed, his mouth formed in a tight circle slightly opened, his hand close to his face with his pointer finger shaped like a hook. And hook it was, for he was a pirate! What a fun night we had. Though his grandpa was a little out of it, he was hilarious and had a great sense of humor. We would laugh when the pirate would return to our conversation throughout the night, always with one eye closed and the other wide open staring me down.

When we finished dinner and were walking to the car Danny's grandpa stopped in the middle of the parking lot and very seriously explained to Danny that his best career choice would be in "DIGITAL." The conversation went as follows...

"Grandpa, what do you mean digital?"

"You know, Digital!

Up down, on-off, black-white, digital."

"Oh digital.?"

Danny and I looked at each deciding whether we should laugh or agree with him, for he clearly was not all there.

Throughout the drive back to their house his grandpa continued to repeat digital things. We were squeezing each others hands in the back seat trying not to bust out laughing. He continued to tell us that if we wanted to get anywhere in life or make any money then we should get into digital. "up-down, on-off, digital."

Well grandpa Hunter after years of laughing at that conversation we have finally decided that we are going to take your advice, and with that Danny is now pursuing DIGITAL.

Seriously? Come on, Its freaking April.

A reminder that I needed today

If fools shall have thee in derision,

If thou art called to pass through tribulation,

if thine enemies fall upon thee,

and if thou shouldst be cast into the pit,

or into the hands of murderers,

and all the elements combine to hedge up the way,

and above all,

if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee,

know thou,

my son,

that

all these things shall give thee experience,

and shall be for thy good.
The Son of Man hath descended below them all.

Art thou greater than he?
Therefore,

hold on thy way,

fear not what man can do,

for God shall be with you forever and ever.

(From Elder Hallstroms Conference talk)

Ah, much better.

My baby Olive is getting so big. She moved out of her cradle into a mini crib (since a regular crib wont fit in their room) and she LOVES it. She loves her bed just as much as her brother loves his...wait, Eddy doesn't love his bed anymore. Since he can now get out of it, he takes full advantage. The other night I thought I heard a noise in the family room so I walked in there only to find Eddy and my wallet. He had emptied it completely and had a pen and a note and was writing on it, just trying to be like his mom. It was like 11pm and he goes to bed at 8. Who knows what he was doing for the 3 hours in-between. This morning I turned on a little Tim McGraw to work out to and Eddy kept trying to pick up Olive saying, "dance, dance" So I stood her up on her feet and Eddy held her hand and danced with her. They love each other so much.

AND Eddy keeps telling me, "I ana go home." Buddy, we are home. He doesn't get it. Because grandma and grandpa are home, and his cousins are home, he wants to go home too.